Exasperated Celtic boss Martin O’Neill insisted his side were given a European lesson as they crashed to a demoralising home defeat to Ferencvaros in their Europa League opener.
Already hurting from their bruising 3-0 Premier Sports Cup quarter-final defeat to Rangers at Ibrox last weekend, O’Neill’s men failed to lift spirits in the east end of Glasgow as they slumped to a thoroughly unconvincing loss to a side currently sitting fifth in the Hungarian top flight.
To rub salt in the wounds, one-time Celtic winger Daniel Arzani tormented his former side with an impressive display and a killer third goal shortly after the interval.
The visitors had gone in front through Bamidele Yusuf’s deflected shot but Celtic levelled in the 44th minute through Mika Baur.
However, in an all too familiar European collapse from the home side, they conceded a goal to Kristoffer Zachariassen a minute later to leave O’Neill cursing their fragility.
The Celtic manager said: ‘It’s a huge frustration, obviously, but it’s also psychologically quite damning as well.
Martin O’Neill admitted Celtic didn’t take enough risks in Europa League defeat to Ferencvaros
‘Just when you’ve fought your way back into the game and you think, well if you can’t deal with the minute the fourth official puts up, at least defend it properly and we didn’t do that. That was really disappointing.
‘It’s not the start we wanted. We have seven games in which to try and get some points on the board. Tonight was I think a European lesson for us in many aspects.’
O’Neill insisted his side have to be braver – starting with Sunday’s crucial Premiership clash with Rangers at Celtic Park.
‘When we have decent possession of the ball, just don’t give it away,’ he said. ‘But also I think taking a few risks as well too — risks in the proper areas of the field.
‘We really need to concentrate now on Sunday [against Rangers]. We’ll get ourselves together. We need to re-energise ourselves as much as anything else.’
O’Neill had shaken up his team following their Ibrox defeat last weekend, with misfiring striker Kasper Hogh dropping to the bench and Camilo Duran selected to start up front.
Viljami Sinisalo and the Celtic defence react in horror after Kristoffer Zachariassen’s goal
There was also a change between the sticks as Sam Johnstone – shaky in the Premier Sports Cup defeat to Rangers – was dropped for Viljami Sinisalo.
Asked by TNT Sports trackside reporter Connie McLaughlin to explain his thinking behind the decision to replace Johnstone with Sinisalo, O’Neill snapped: ‘No, I won’t talk to you about the thinking behind that there. Sinisalo was always going to play.
‘Believe it or not Connie, my job is not to explain every single situation to you, much as you are going to ask and I’m delighted you are.’
When pressed by McLaughlin over the fact supporters might want to hear his reasoning, O’Neill replied: ‘Well, why don’t I tell the fans through Celtic TV?’
